Robert Winnett

In March 1691, Captain Robert Winnett was working on the mail packet ship the Frances Ketch. As the ship came into Harwich from Helford Sluice with the Holland Mail, it was attacked by a French Man-of-War. In the action that followed, Winnett’s right arm was shot off. One of the older documents in The Royal Mail Archive is a warrant to grant Winnett injury compensation.